Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Before I begin….just a word of thanks for all the love on my last post. It was much appreciated and much needed. Thank you.

Now onto the matter at hand. Time. What feelings come up when you hear the word time? Not enough? Too little? My heart rate is increasing already! I feel like I'm always in a hurry or rushing around to get those little checks marked off on my to do list. My days are being dictated by checking off boxes and to be honest…I'm getting a little tired of it. We live in such a fast paced world and we are constantly fight the clock. I don't know about you, but the more I fight the more I don't get things done. I feel defeated and can't seem to find that extra time that I'm so desperately looking for. And then an article arrived in my inbox the other day that helped to change my perspective on time.

To paraphrase the article…..With most everything in life, we must remember to take a step back and reflect on our routine. Find those reasons that we are always in a rush. If you tell (or more importantly allow) yourself to have all the time in the world, you'll find that everything just falls into place.

It's all about allowing ourselves to have control over our lives and not letting time control us. I have a friend who has a good grasp on this concept. She commits to scheduling in time for herself. She has a color coded system in her planner (which is such a great idea) and one color is for "me time". It was really eye opening to me to look at her week and see all the various colors and how often that "me time" color shows up daily. That along with prioritizing our to do list and spreading things out over the course of a week instead of trying to jam pack everything into one day can be helpful. When we put too many things on our daily to do list we are just setting ourselves up for failure. If we make time to rest our body and treat it right, we will perform better. Try scheduling in things like meditation, exercise, coffee with a friend just like you would paying bills or a doctor appointment. Louise Hay says, "once we do things that are right for our body and minds, we have all the time in the world. We exhaust ourselves on things that don't matter or aren't good for us, so we don't end up having time for things that are good for us. Managing and gaining control of your time will allow you to do the stuff you love and feel accomplished at the same time. You have as much time as you give yourself." (That right there is my A-HA MOMENT!)

Louise suggests an affirmation: I create my own security by trusting the process of life.

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comments:

This couldn't have come at a better time, Leigh. Yes. Nodding in agreement. For me, it's a matter of becoming aware of the things that must be done, and I mean must, the areas where I fritter time (and am gobsmacked at the amount of that time), and the conscious choice to say no, often and with firmness. Or, no thanks, because after all, it's polite. But I don't say "Sorry, no." I just say no thanks. May your own time open up exponentially. Time for ourselves is vital. And that one not use it in some thinly veiled way of doing for others. One woman I knew worked out and hated it and only did it so she'd have more energy to do things for her family. Not a good reason, not a good reason. End of Fishgirl rant for Tuesday.

Coffee with my friends or my (grown) kids puts me in such a good mood..And frame of mind..This gets me thru the rest of the week, even month... I have a renewed energy to tackle the mundane errands in my life, such as washing my socks and dishes lol :-)

I think mothers with young kids at home have a hard time finding time for themselves. Everybody else always comes first. But I know how important it is to find time for yourself, and not after everything else is done. Scheduling it into your day or week is essential or it just won't happen. It has taken a long time but I am finding it easier to just say no (or no thanks!) and keep some free time for myself, even if it's just meeting a friend for coffee. It's so important to take that time for ourselves. Great reminder, Leigh, and your photos are just beautiful!

Sometimes it works the opposite for me....I have so much to do that is so staggering that I don't do anything and that is definitely not productive. The me time turns into "what have I accomplished today? Nothing" Sometime last summer I fell off track and I have yet to get back into a groove. Beautiful reminder!

Very timely post as we've just started a new year with new goals and ideas that can become quite overwhelming and honestly, time consuming. These new goals add to what we already have on our "to do" list. Each and every day I take time for myself. I might read, or walk, or just sit, but I make sure I have time to rejuvenate! It's the only way I survive!

I am a major homebody. But, at this stage of life, I do have a day off. Initially, after so many years of working, I used it to clean, get groceries, catch up on bills, etc. Then One Day....I realized - this is MY day off - a day I worked years to have - why am I wasting it?? Now I try to allow myself to read, photograph, play with friends, paint - anything but chores. My house can stay unvacuumed til Saturday like it used to before I had a day off! Now my day off makes my whole week!

Talk about time - this is the first time all day I've had a chance to get over here! Appointments, errands - they do eat up our time, don't they? I'm fortunate to have two "me times" most days. In the morning, I exercise because if I don't do it then, it doesn't get done. This morning it didn't get done. See above. In the evening, after supper is cleared away, I spend a little time with my Project Life and then make a cuppa tea and grab my Kindle. However, demands do come in and just a little while ago, I had to say "no, I can't do that" to my daughter. It was hard but do you know what? She figured out a work around. So we're not as expendable as we think we are. Sometimes we have to put ourselves first, which is hard for women.

man leigh...this hits really close to home. so much i would like to do and try. but there's only so much time right? learning (read::trying to learn) to say no more. creating space for the things that bring joy. thanks for this insightful post friend! xoxo

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